Featured Relics & Militaria
This is a British soldiers Brodie helmet which has no liner in place but is dated 1941 on the chin strap holders also manufacturer/date marking 1761 over III which is all clear to see.
The helmet is not to badly corroded but is battle-damaged condition, including a large perforation through the crown with splits from the impact of the hit. The helmet is lightly rusty due to being in dry sand and hot weather and this is why it has no rust roles or rust damage but with extensive pitting and weathering, and desert sand retained beneath the rim, is consistent with prolonged exposure in the Egyptian desert environment. The helmet has no real paintwork remains but it is not rusted away it has been weathered away by the sand apart from a tiny bit inside which looks green with some yellow over the top but there really is not much at all but it still retains some original colour in places mostly the rim. The helmet has been very nicely cleaned is lovely and solid not braking up or falling apart and is perfect for display or any collection. This a very rare relic from the famous North African battlefield of 1942-1943 and comes with 4xA5 laminated information cards with many pictures and all the information possible.
The helmet was recovered from the El Alamein battlefield in 2009 by Egyptian-Sahara.com, an expedition and battlefield-tour company that operated in Egypt during the late 2000s and early 2010s and specialised in expeditions to the El Alamein battlefield. Contemporary Egyptian-Sahara promotional material supplied with the helmet provides supporting provenance for its recovery and shows the company documenting and displaying battlefield relics from the area. The accompanying leaflet is retained as supporting documentary evidence of the company and its El Alamein battlefield activities.
El Alamein was the scene of the decisive Second Battle of El Alamein, fought from 23 October to 11 November 1942, when the British Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery launched a major offensive against German and Italian forces commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. After fierce fighting across the desert, the Axis forces were forced to withdraw westwards. The victory halted the Axis advance towards Egypt and the Suez Canal and became a major turning point in the North African Campaign. The helmet therefore represents a tangible surviving artefact connected to the British and Commonwealth forces that fought in this strategically important desert theatre.
This is a near complete but empty and inert totally rare Japanese late war, emergency production rifle grenade which has been crudely made with basic steel case with a screw in base.
The case is missing its wood or bakelite-style plug with hole for the fuse at one end. And its small plug at the other. The grenade has none of its original black paintwork or original colouring. The steel case is pitted but solid, with no rust-through holes, and has been carefully cleaned. In nice relic condition but has corroded slightly but it is sturdy, not friable, and ideal for display or any militaria collection. The rifle grenade was recovered in the 1980's and has been in a private collection ever since it was originally found in an old Japanese defensive position on the island of Guam from the 1944 battle in the Pacific. It comes with 2xA5 laminated information cards with many pictures and map.
The Battle of Guam (21 July – 10 August 1944) was the successful American amphibious campaign to recapture the island of Guam from the Empire of Japan. Guam had been a prewar US territory since 1898 but was captured by the Japanese in December 1941. The 21-day battle was a key pillar of Operation Forager during the wider Pacific campaign of World War II.
Recently Added Relics & Militaria
This is a very large section of aluminium airframe panel which by recovered parts sizes is a massive section and is lovely and clean and has a bit of underbelly black paintwork remains on one side and lots of green and brown camouflage paintwork on the other side and is very rare to get such a large bit of Lancaster bomber.
The big part is a section of airframe structure which is aluminium made with steel structure bolts. The part has been very well cleaned and has most of its original colours this is a very large part at 23 inches by 7 inches wide and is a lovely part for display or any collection. The part is from from Lancaster bomber ND859 of 576 squadron which took off at 9.25pm on the 12th of July 1944 from Elsham Wolds airfield to destroy rail facilities on a raid to Revigny north of Lyon in tactical support of the Normandy Landings. The bombing was circling in cloud cover trying to find the target area when Lancaster ND 859 was involved in a mid-air collision with 44 Squadron RAF Lancaster LM 638 KM-P that was returning from its operation against the railway junction at Culmont-Chalindrey..The part comes with 2xA5 laminated information cards with pictures and map.
Lancaster ND 859 crashed at Giey Sur Aujou Haute-Marne and LM 638 crashed near Auberive, Haute-Marne France which is North of Dijon in France.
This is a huge section of Jumo 211 engine case mounting from one of the aircraft engines it still has a steel bar structure part attached which is a couple of parts bolted together and has a clear to see inspection stamp.
The part which still has some of its original black paintwork it has ripped and smashed off in the impact of the crash it still has some original colour the part has been very well cleaned and is a lovely part of internal engine the section is 18 inches by 7 inches wide and a nice one for display or any collection. The engine case is from German Junkers Ju88A-4 bomber-number 301436 which was part of Operation Steinbock a raid on London and was shot down before it got there on the 22nd February 1944 and crashed of the coast at Buxey Sands in Essex.
The Ju88 bomber crashed on to Buxey sands 10 miles south of Brightlingsea in Essex. The site of the crash was visited many times in the 1970’s by Aviation recovery groups and many parts were salvaged and then the wreck was destroyed by the Royal Navy. This part came from one of the 1970’s recovery’s of parts of the aircraft.
The crew
Oberleutnant A.Simm and Unteroffizier G.Daut were both killed and the body of Unteroffizier E.Kihle was found off the Essex coast on the 9th May 1944 and was buried at sea. And Unteroffizier E.Langer was missing perused washed out to sea.
This is a very rare near complete cockpit engine tachometer gauge which was made by French factory Jaeger of Paris under German control factory for Luftwaffe instruments. These gauges were only used by a few different types of Luftwaffe aircraft. And a German transport aircraft the largest they had which there is very little about.
The gauge which is pretty much complete other than missing its glass cover which has partly broken it still has a lot of the markings on the face are clear to see but not all. On the back it is maker marked with part numbers the steel outer case has a large rust hole in the side and bit of other damage from rust nothing to bad it still has lots of original black paintwork. The gauge was damaged by the impact of the crash it is in nice solid condition it has been very nicely cleaned with lots of original colours and is perfect for display or any collection the part is 5 inches long by 4 inches wide in size. The part comes with 2 x A5 laminated information sheets with many pictures and map. The gauge was bought at a militaria fair in Bologna a few years ago and who informed me that it was recovered back in the 1970’s.
The Messerschmitt Me 323D-1 Gigant, coded RD+QH, was a six-engined German military transport aircraft operating along Italy’s Adriatic coast during the Second World War. Christmas time on 15/16 December 1942 the aircraft was on a flight south carrying supplies, it passed the Rimini area on a cold, misty morning before striking the summit of Monte La Montagnola, near Casteldimezzo and Vallugola, north-west of Pesaro. The aircraft hit the hillside, crossed the road and fell down the slope into the valley below, where it broke up and caught fire. All nine crew members were killed. They were later buried at the German military cemetery at Passo della Futa. The crash site was identified through local eyewitness accounts and research; in 2012, investigators recovered heat-damaged aluminium fragments and other debris from the area, confirming the presence of the aircraft wreckage.
The Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant was the largest land-based transport aircraft to see operational service during the Second World War. Developed from the Me 321 military glider, it was fitted with six radial engines to provide its own power and made its first flight in 1942. Designed to carry exceptionally heavy loads, the Gigant could transport vehicles, artillery, equipment and large numbers of troops using its distinctive hinged nose section and forward-loading arrangement. It was employed particularly in the Mediterranean and North African theatres, where it supplied German forces across demanding air routes. Its enormous size and slow speed made it vulnerable to enemy fighters, and many were lost in combat. The Me 323 remains one of the most unusual and impressive transport aircraft developed during the war.
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This a totally rare complete one off relic which is a heavily battle-damaged American Easy company M1 steel helmet which still has its spade badges on both sides which are still mostly clear to see. This is the rarest helmet i have ever had to sell and probably always will be. The helmet is associated with Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, and retains the distinctive white spade unit marking associated with Easy Company.
The helmet which is in relic condition but is mostly battle damaged with lots of splits and impact damage and has has bent over as well from the force of the explosion but is in remarkable condition for a relic. The helmet has bit of rust damage with a few some rust holes but nothing to bad. It is a solid piece which is not breaking up or falling apart it does not have any of its leather liner in place but does have some of its original green paintwork remains very clear to see it has been very nicely cleaned and is perfect for display or any collection. The helmet was recovered in the late 1980's or early 1990’s in a large wartime hole or position together with other American military equipment, including a substantial quantity of medical equipment and supplies. The mixed nature of the material suggests that the site was used as a temporary American field position or equipment cache during the fighting in the famous Foy woods which was fought over during the in battle of Bulge of December 1944 until January 1945..The helmet comes with 5 x A5 laminated information cards with map and many pictures with lots close up pictures of the helmet and its badge.
I myself have owned this helmet for 20 years and has been in my collection for that long i bought it directly from the man who recovered it himself and came directly out of his collection. I have seen some of his collection not all of it as some he would not show and what i saw is amazing he has been digging in the Ardennes forest for a very long time so i have a direct line of custardy and direct history of the helmet personally.
The recovery area lies within the Foy battlefield, where the 101st Airborne Division fought during the German Ardennes Offensive. Easy Company occupied positions in and around Bois Jacques and the woods overlooking Foy, enduring intense winter conditions, artillery fire and repeated German attacks. The fighting around Foy formed part of the wider defence of Bastogne and culminated in the American advance into the village in early January 1945.
Today, the helmet provides a remarkable physical link to the men of Easy Company and the brutal conditions they experienced in the Foy sector. Its severe fragmentation, penetrations, splits and deformation, combined with the surviving original Easy Company marking, make it a striking survivor from one of the most famous episodes of the Battle of the Bulge—the same history later brought to a worldwide audience through the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.